


the extra

by quantumducky



Category: Hidden Block (Video Blogging RPF), Televoid! - Fandom
Genre: (Obviously), (since it's apparently not its own fandom), Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Televoid, multiple ians theory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 03:13:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12003804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quantumducky/pseuds/quantumducky
Summary: The Void does not need this many Ians.  It fixes the problem.





	the extra

Ian looked up wearily at the sound of static: the TV coming to life of its own accord.  Nothing should be on so soon after last time, but then again, it wasn’t as if time really meant anything here.  He shifted in his chair and tried to muster the strength to pretend to give a shit about some weird, probably safety-themed old show.

He wasn’t expecting to see himself- well, not himself, but Ian.  Not even an Ian he’d seen before, although he wasn’t sure why he was so confident in his ability to tell them apart.  This one… if he had to guess, he’d say this Ian was fairly new.  Fresh enough to have energy to actually try, naïve enough to think it would matter.  The two of them had nearly identical recording setups, the main difference being that the other Ian had much brighter lighting, which is to say, any lighting whatsoever.  He seemed as surprised to be on camera as Ian was to be watching him.  He looked around the empty white space he inhabited, picking at the ends of his sleeves nervously.  The camera angle switched so that his TV was visible.  It wasn’t even turned on yet.  As the camera focused on it, though, it clicked to static, which slowly faded into a picture.  Before the angle changed again, Ian caught a glimpse of himself.  This was getting meta.

The camera switched back to the other Ian in time to catch his reaction.  He pressed into the back of his chair like he was trying to phase through it, eyes wide and disbelieving.  Ian winced sympathetically and half-waved to him.  It wasn’t fun learning you weren’t the only you.   Other Ian wasn’t reassured to learn they could both see each other- the opposite, in fact.  He tried to hide it, but his hands couldn’t keep still and his breath came fast and shallow.

The scene blurred with static, but it was more than an issue of bad reception.  The other Ian reacted to it, for one thing.  He started at its appearance and put his arms around himself defensively.  He was looking down now, a little resigned, mostly just scared.  Watching with the kind of horrified suspense that only comes from realizing you know what’s about to happen, Ian found himself unable to look away from the screen despite a growing feeling that he didn’t want to see this.

The other Ian was muttering something under his breath, almost too quiet to make out through the waves of static.  “Shit.  No no no no no.  Leave me alone, I did everything you wanted, I-”  The static intensified, briefly obscuring him.  He gasped, a sharp, pained sound.  “No,” he repeated, a little louder in order to still be heard, “you can’t-”

Whoever he was talking to, they could.  His attempts to convince them otherwise were cut off abruptly as he was dragged from his chair by some unseen force and suspended a foot off the ground.  He couldn’t protest any further if he tried.  He couldn’t  _ breathe. _  His hands flew to his throat and clawed desperately at nothing.  All he managed to do was tear at his own skin until he drew blood.  As it got harder to tell if the blurring in his vision was caused by static or lack of oxygen, he locked eyes with the him watching from the TV, silently pleading for help.

Ian, the original Ian, stared at the screen, horrified.  He wished he could look away from this, or even just end the eye contact, but he was frozen in place.  He wished the other Ian would stop looking at him as if there was anything he could do.  This wasn’t a Televoid! episode, it was a goddamn snuff film.

Time had no right to move this slowly.  It couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds for the other Ian to lose consciousness, but it felt like an hour.  Eventually he stopped struggling.  His arms fell limp at his sides.  His eyes were closed now, but it didn’t break whatever spell was forcing Ian to keep watching.  It seemed there was no “entertainment” value in seeing him float motionless until he was actually dead, though.  The static retreated slightly and he started breathing again.  A couple of minutes passed, and the other Ian woke up.

He was groggy at first, unsure of what was happening.  All he had was the vague recollection of something like a bad dream.  He lifted a hand to gingerly touch his neck- why did it hurt?- and remembered.  That brought him back to consciousness fast.  He whipped his head up to look at the TV again, not bothering to push his once-neat hair out of his face, eyes wide and terrified.  Time stood still for an instant- like the moment just after knocking something fragile off a table, when you know it’s too late to keep it from smashing to pieces.  Then, without warning, his head snapped to the side with a sickening crack.

There was no body left lying in the white void.  The other Ian dissolved into static before he even hit the ground.

The screen filled with the same static until the room was gone entirely.  Nothing left to suggest any of it had even existed.  Ian gradually became aware of his own surroundings again.  He could move now, but he didn’t.  He just stared at the TV, even after it clicked off, and… thought.  The other Ian would have died regardless of anything- whatever purpose he was created for, he’d outlived it.  But this little production was staged entirely for Ian’s benefit.  Death didn’t scare him anymore?  Maybe they could keep him in line with the threat of being  _ completely erased from existence. _  There were more of him where he came from, after all.  The worst part was, he was afraid it might have worked.

**Author's Note:**

> i did this instead of my homework, please validate my bad decision with comments


End file.
